Adventures in Home Buying...

[WNYBuckHunter]

A couple of weeks ago, I got pre-approved for a mortgage. Since then, we have been looking at houses. All I have to say, is wow. Its amazing to me what people try to pass off and sometime just downright lie about when selling their home. Today we saw a house that was advertised as having 3 bedrooms, and when we got there, actually had 2. The realtor said, well, you could add a third by framing in a wall or two in the finished basement. Are you serious? Then others with huge, glaring problems that they apparently expect people to look past. Just amazing to me.

The good news is, we found a house that we wre just waiting for the realtor to get back to us on, and we are going to put an offer on it.

[Deerthug]

You're preaching to the choir. It took me and my wife 1 1/2 yrs of looking at hundreds of houses before we found our home. 20 years later we are still here. I hated it when we told our realtors our price range at the time and often many of them would show us houses $100k out of our range. Needless to say we changed realtors very often. I hope it works out for you.

[Dom]

Have to be on your toe's when buying a house these day's.A lot of folk's try to scam and rob us blind,do your self a favor and for sure get a house inspection.Goodluck

[Lawdwaz]

Congrats on getting pre apporoved for some cheap money. Great time to be buying.

Staying in the area??

[WNYBuckHunter]

This is my first home purchase, but I have learned from others mistakes a bit, so an inspection is a must for me. This is not going to be our last home, so it doesnt need to be perfect, just close. The one we are making an offer on needs a bit of work here and there, and we will be adding some things we would like to have, but it seems pretty solid to begin with. We are staying in the general area, but going back north from here. The 45 min drive to and from work has gotten old for me, and my finace wants to be closer to what she considers civilization lol.

Lawdwaz, the rate I got is ridiculously low, about half of what most people I know got just a few years ago.

[Woodsman20]

Congrats on the new house - we are actually trying to sell ours and in the market ourselves. you are right it is tough to weed through the storylines. Congrats again.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks, no congrats yet though. Need t get the offer accepted and through the inspection before I get too hopeful.

[Lawdwaz]

This is not going to be our last home, so it doesnt need to be perfect, just close.

Be careful here........My wife & I said that 21 years ago. When we remodeled the kitchen in 1994, we were picking out kitchen cabinets and the salesman said "how long do you plan on being in the house?" I said 5 years, TOPS!

Well, here we are. Once you have a couple children, get them going in a great school district, the day to day, month to month and year to year time just goes by so fast. I don't know your age but I can assure you you will not believe how fast it really does go by.

You got cheap money, make sure you get what you want (basement & garage/out buildings are what is important to a hunter & sportsman) within reason.

If you can, take a knowledgeable friend through the house in addition to the inspector. I don't have a ton of faith in the home inspection business. YMMV...........

[WNYBuckHunter]

We plan on at least 10 years. The only thing the house doesnt have that I want is a basement. Its an old house, so its a 3/4 height basement. It has a very large garage with a seperate work room though, so I can deal with that. The rest of the things id like to have can be added on later.

Now if we end up being there longer than that, it wont be the worst thing.

[MountainHunter]

I hope it all comes together on a nice home for you and your Fiance.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks Scot.

I appreciate all of the tips guys. Our search isnt over till I sign my soul to the devil...

[Geno C]

they do that to get you to come down and look at the house...

[WNYBuckHunter]

Yeah, I know, its just stupid because they are going to piss alot of people off that way. I know I wouldnt even bother going to look at another house listed by that realtor again.

[Elmo]

Congratulations!

Keep in mind that the realtor gets some cut of the sale so the realtor always works for the seller. They want you to buy.

I also gave it the 7-10 years before I move on. I've just entered my 6th year and it doesn't look like I'm moving out any time soon. Unfortunately for me, I bought when the market was still high.

It took me a little over a year to find my place. They said you'll know which one will be your home when you see it and they were right. The moment I saw my place I knew I had to have it. I should have done more investigating because it turned out that my place has a lot of hidden problems but I still would have bought it if I knew before hand. I would have just talked it down even more.

[Geno C]

my fiance is a Realtor so she had this house that had an accepted offer but the buyer lost his job so could not move forward. she knew the offer and we came in at that got accepted and we also got a 2.5% kick back from buying the house since she represented us as our agent. First house we looked at we bought lol. which in retrospect i prob wouldn't have done if i could do it over but the house is completely changed since we bought it and is amazing...

[MountainHunter]

Over 20 years ago. My wife took me to look at a home. We had been looking for a couple of years for a house. We drove in to the drive way of this house on a beautiful peak foliage fall day. You could see 7 different mountain peaks from the house. I was so angry at my wife at the time because it was everything I had ever wanted in a home. Beautiful property, I can walk for miles from the house to hunt etc.

It made me ill that I didn't think we could afford it. We did not make an offer. Long story short we could afford it and I was just being super conservative. We were very fortunate and ended up buying the house. In about 4 years it will be paid for and it brings us tremendous joy. We were very lucky.

[phade]

Inspection is everything, but it's not iron-clad. Had my home inspected and that person missed so much that is was laughable. Worst part was that in all of my effort, nothing was ever done about it or recouped.

The other hard part is closing....prequal is not as easy today, but it's still easier than closing.

You'll really enjoy the first time something catastrophic (home emergency-wise) happens. Closed on my house December 9 that year....Decemeber 10...water heater crapped out - was working PERFECT on the 9th. What can you do? Just laugh and cough it up.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Elmo, Im way over the top as a practical kind of guy when it comes to these things, so theres no "I gotta have it" feeling for me. If I were to give into that feeling, it would get very expensive hahaha. My fiance on the other hand.....she falls in love with every house we see lol.

[WNYBuckHunter]

phade, between you and that Holmes on Homes show, I am thinking I should just keep renting lol.

[WNYBuckHunter]

So I heard from my agent today, and will be going to write up the offer on the house after work today. Everything will be contingent on the house passing the home, radon and pest inspections.

My stomach is doing flip flops already....

[First-light]

Good luck Buck. Make sure you get a good inspection. It will all work out in the end and you will be real happy!!!

[Paula]

Yes good luck.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks guys, the offer went in yesterday and I should know if they accept it or not by 6pm today. We shall see...

[Geno C]

goodluck bud!

[Deerthug]

We'll keep our fingers crossed!